Editors for this issue: The Editorial Committee

People held in detention are inevitably at risk of abuse. The recent Northern Territory revelations have only reminded us of this reality. Australia’s failure to ratify the UN OPCAT was highlighted in the recent UN Periodic Review: ratification would require comprehensive independent monitoring of all places of detention. Effective monitoring is vital; at the same time it cannot on its own ensure rights protections, and this article argues that both enforceable rights, and robust monitoring, are essential if Australia is to address rights abuses in detention in Australia.
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In February 2016, then Conservative UK Prime Minister David Cameron delivered a speech on the necessity for penal reform to address the ‘scandalous failure’ of the penal system. This rare prime ministerial intervention built on similar speeches and moves by the then UK Justice Minister, Michael Gove, raising the prospect of a reframing of the right wing narrative around crime and punishment. This article summarises these developments and assesses the prospects of a right wing, austerity-driven Conservative government achieving penal reform through a program of privatising and commercialising criminal justice services, in particular offender management.

Earlier this year, the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor published a report on controversial disclosure offences in s 35P of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 (Cth). Those offences have attracted substantial criticism for limiting the ability of journalists to report on ASIO’s activities. This article argues that the changes recommended in that report will do little to reduce the impact of s 35P on press freedom, and that more significant changes are required.

This article sets out the key constitutional issues surrounding the 2016 federal election and its aftermath. The authors discuss the double dissolution mechanism in the Australian Constitution which was used to trigger the 2016 election and the recent changes to the Senate voting system. The authors also examine how and why the newly elected senators will divide into long and short term senators after the 2016 election, whether the new Parliament will proceed to a joint sitting, and the prospects of another early election.

Australia’s consumer protection laws do not prohibit business models or practices that are unfair. While the prohibition on unconscionable conduct has been used to attack some very sharp practices, many predatory business models still flourish. In the context of the 2016 review of the Australian Consumer Law, this article suggests that a new prohibition on unfair trading, drawing on similar prohibitions in other jurisdictions, will ensure our consumer protection laws remain up-to-date and relevant to the modern services-driven economy.

Small amount loans — often known as payday loans — have frequently been criticised for their costs. Recently, these loans became subject to a national price cap. However, even before this, responsible lending obligations had been imposed on all consumer credit providers. In light of the decision in ASIC v The Cash Store (in liquidation), this article argues that price regulation and responsible lending regulation are both needed to adequately protect vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers, and that the regulator needs to play an active role in enforcing the laws.

The law of tort and novel legislative actions can fetter the ability of the holder of private property to use goods and resources in ways that cause climate change harms. Yet, such claims are typically limited to harm already caused, as opposed to harms to future generations which climate change will cause. This article explores how a recent decision of the United States District Court may allow for the development of tort and legislatively created actions to redress claims on the basis of future climate harms.

This article argues that altruistic young lawyers ought to eschew conventional social justice careers in favour of a career in corporate law. It proceeds by way of two propositions. First, it suggests that the positive impact made by a decision to pursue a social justice career is much smaller than it first appears. This is because, in the vast majority of cases, taking a social justice job does not cause there to be additional social-justice workers in the world: the decision instead simply displaces a similarly-qualified person who would otherwise have filled the role. Secondly, the article highlights the extraordinary good which can be effected by working in a high-income field and donating a significant portion of one’s earnings to highly effective charities.

Excellent oral and written communication skills are crucial for any lawyer. Indeed, the ability to communicate appropriately, effectively and persuasively both in writing and orally to a diverse audience has been identified nationally as an essential learning outcome for all law graduates. Communication, and particularly oral communication, is a ‘two way street’: it is a shared experience between two or more people, involving both speaking and listening. Despite this binary nature of oral communication, the ability to listen critically and deeply is often overlooked in law teaching. In this article we examine two separate but related visual media projects aimed at facilitating and supporting the development of broad-based oral communication skills in law students at an Australian law school.

This article sets out the background to the introduction of children’s champions, also known as witness intermediaries, as well as the commencement of pre-recorded testimony in New South Wales. The first cases under the new arrangements are described and the future of the scheme is considered in light of developments in other jurisdictions.

The Protest Years, the second instalment of the government-funded ‘official history’ of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, published late last year, is part of a multi-volume project commissioned to defend ASIO’s role as the central domestic intelligence agency of Australia’s political, corporate and military-security establishment. Nevertheless, the book, like Volume 1 (reviewed in (2015) 40(4) AltLJ) partially reveals the lawlessness with which ASIO operated for decades, and no doubt still does. This volume also sheds light on the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975.

The placement of a man’s genitals appears to be the reason why men are more likely to be arrested for nude sun-bathing in Queensland than women. Nudist groups claim the Summary Offences Act 2005(Qld) definition of wilful exposure is discriminatory while others maintain it is the authorities’ failure to apply the Act that is at issue. This Brief suggests reformation of the laws could overcome the confusion.

This Brief argues that the current seating arrangements for criminal defendants in the ACT Supreme Court interferes with the presumption of innocence and the defendant’s right to participate in their defence. Given the recently announced plans to redevelop the ACT Law Courts precinct, the Territory Government should take the opportunity to consider, instead, seating defendants at the bar table next to their defence counsel.